Anyone successfully growing or have healthy Japanese Maples & Chaenomeles in SoCal, 10b?

[Decoy Octopus]

I have a handful of Japanese maples in 8b - Central Texas. We get plenty of ultra hot days here. I keep them in morning sun with dappled shade the rest of the day. Usually by the end of the year only the very beginning of the tips have browned.

 

[leatherback]

short internodes.

hot and dry where you live? Low fertilizer & little water = compact growth

 

[Firstflush]

How tall and how wide is it? (in feet)

20x20 plus minus

 

[Firstflush]

hot and dry where you live? Low fertilizer & little water = compact growth

We are coastal so no extreme heat, maybe 90s F for a few days to 1-2 weeks.

I have been in the environmental consulting business and remember that the groundwater table is shallow in the area, 10-15 feet bgs which means the moisture in the soil likely gets as shallow as 7 feet bgs. The tree is getting natural occurring groundwater.

 

[ChristianDGreat]

Okay guys
I live in Delano which is super dry and at the same time its normal for us to get 100 degrees from june to july.

I have maples and tridents

All maple have sunburn except for the regular maple (green, momiji), all other varieties have sunburn even in 50%shade cloth (kotohime for me is the worst, one seedling completely fried)

All my tridents have some sort of sunburn as well
But you can see trident doesnt care that much and still grow vigrously even theres a few sunburns

By the way we hit 111 degrees yesterday

 

[エドガー]

I've had my JMs now for 3-4 years (8 diff trees, of diff cultivars)... and not one has died. They are all healthy with a 3-5gal pot full of roots.

But... what does die every year is azaleas, whether satsuki or kurume (not interested in sun-tolerant indicas... as they get too big like camelias).
First year, 6-7 starter-plants I bought died.
2nd and 3rd year, about 50 rooted cuttings either dried up from the summer, or others got eaten by rats.
This year, 8-9 well-rooted 1yo cuttings (and counting) dried up once summer hit.
Currently, only got 10 kurume and 5-6 satsuki left that seem healthy and still growing... hope they make it through summer.

Azaleas seem much more difficult than JMs for me.